Study of multiple hard-scatter processes from different $pp$ interactions in the same ATLAS event

Given the large integrated luminosity and the large average pileup in the 2017 ATLAS dataset, the probability of having two leptonically decaying Z bosons originating from separate $pp$ interactions in the same LHC bunch crossing becomes non-negligible. Such events are searched for and the number observed compared with the expectation. These types of events (also for the case involving other hard scatter processes, such as W, photon or top quark production, in the same event) may cause additional backgrounds for particular physics analyses, and therefore this background must be accounted for when relevant.